Where Next for EAP?

Abstract

EAP has changed over the last 30 years as new insights into academic discourse have informed the content ofcourses across the Anglophone world. However, this paper will argue that the biggest drivers of change in comingdecades will be changes to education globally that will see new generations of students commencing their EAPstudies from a higher initial level of English competence, and also studying in different locations and in differentinstitutions. Globalisation is causing an increasing number of countries to rethink their English language educationpolicies, and this will change the profile of students exiting secondary education in those countries. This combinedwith the emergence of a variety of new institutions offering higher education in English will reshape the global EAPlandscapes and provide new challenges and opportunities for the EAP profession. This paper explores these changesand predicts how they will shape EAP in the future.